Monday, March 9, 2009

Shakespeare Sits for a Portrait in 1610

MacKey, Robert. "Portrait of Shakespeare Unveiled, 399 Years Late." The Lede. 9 March 2009.I'd heard rumors about this, but I hadn't seen the images until today: A Newly-Discovered Portrait of Shakespeare—or, at least, a newly-revealed portrait. But is it of Shakespeare? Or is it of some other man of the same name?My attention was just drawn to another article on the subject. And another. And there will, no doubt, be more and more on the subject as the world contemplates the newest (oldest) possible image of Shakespeare.

3 comments:

e. meritus prauf
said...

Thanks for the link to The Lede, which links to other links on Shakespeare portraiture, so that one gets a pretty good idea of the significance of this find and Prof. Wells comment that whereas the others are dull and lifeless this one is anything but. It's Shakespeare alive at forty-five! Why he even looks like he could be the author of all those plays and sonnets that bear his name.

Hmm. Someone pointed out that the article says W.S. was 46 when the portrait was painted in 1610, thus putting a stake through the heart of my little rhyme. But W.S would be 46 only if ithe portrait was painted after his birthday on April 23. I've got a window of 3 months and 23 days in which it could be "Shakespeare alive at forty-five!" I favor a winter sitting until someone proves otherwise.

Bardfilmis normally written as one word, though it can also be found under a search for "Bard Film Blog." Bardfilmis a Shakespeare blog (admittedly, one of many Shakespeare blogs), and it is dedicated to commentary on films (Shakespeare movies, The Shakespeare Movie, Shakespeare on television, Shakespeare at the cinema), plays, and other matter related to Shakespeare (allusions to Shakespeare in pop culture, quotes from Shakespeare in popular culture, quotations that come from Shakespeare, et cetera).

Unless otherwise indicated, quotations from Shakespeare's works are from the following edition:

KJ is a professor of English and Literature at a small Christian liberal arts college. In addition to courses entitled “Shakespeare” and “Introduction to Shakespeare,” he teaches a course called “Shakespeare and Film.” Recently, he developed a course titled “Modern Shakespearean Fiction.” Shakespeare is also integrated into nearly all his other courses, including courses on the Literature of Food and the Literature of Humor. Additionally, he is the author of Bardfilm: The Shakespeare and Film Microblog. But you may have known that already.